Warren works to stay ahead of beavers

Saturday

Jun 29, 2013 at 6:00 AMJun 30, 2013 at 5:00 AM

When Sherry Rapisarda called 911 on May 25 to say water was rising around her family's trailer home on Route 67, she was told to evacuate. “I looked out the door and I told (the dispatcher), 'I can't evacuate, I can't even get to my car,' ” she said

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When Sherry Rapisarda called 911 on May 25 to say water was rising around her family's trailer home on Route 67, she was told to evacuate.

“I looked out the door and I told (the dispatcher), 'I can't evacuate, I can't even get to my car,' ” she said, remembering how the Fire Department arrived with a boat and ferried her, her husband, their two grown children and two cats to dry land.

On June 14, when the floods came again, she and her daughter were home and walked through the water, leaving the cats behind because the problem seemed a bit less severe.

The two floods, which officials have said were caused by the breaching of a beaver dam on state property just west of Colonel's Mountain, have left behind damage on Route 67 and around the Spring Street area, where cars were sitting in about 3 feet of water.

Now, every other day, highway surveyor Thomas S. Boudreau hikes up to the pond from a trail on North Street to check on the dam. The pond is bisected by the Warren-Palmer town line.

“I have a measuring device, and I keep an eye on the level of the water,” he said. If it goes up much, he can remove what the beavers have built up in the previous day. The water is now just 2 feet deep, and he doesn't anticipate any more problems.

Before the dam broke the first time, it was holding back a big pond. Mr. Boudreau estimated conservatively that about 3 million gallons of water came down the hill like a tsunami.

It left behind damage at Village Pointe Plaza, which Kathy Allard-Fountain owns. Her Hair Studio and Day Spa had water in the basement that affected all the plaza's tenants. The water line left behind is 7 inches above the floor.

“We have storage for the businesses in the cellar,” she said. “The liquor store (Whiskey Hill) had the worst (damage).”

That was the first year the dam broke and flooded the plaza. Some folks, including Ms. Allard-Fountain, had more or less forgotten that incident.

But with two floods in three weeks, people will likely remember this for a while, and they won't let local officials forget, either. They've sent a letter to selectmen and want something done about the beavers.

Still, fixing the problem requires a process. First the Board of Health must issue an emergency trapping permit so the beavers can be removed. Health Board Chairman Kenneth Lacey said Mr. Boudreau is working on the permit now.

Since state trapping laws prohibit the relocation of beavers, they must be killed, officials said. So the town needs a licensed trapper to do the job and funding to pay that person. Trapping season, when the beaver pelts would have had some value, ended in April and won't start again until November, so the trapper doesn't benefit much unless he is paid.

Money is likely to be an issue.

Mr. Boudreau and the three other Highway Department employees have already spent more than 120 hours dealing with beaver problems — not just the ones that caused the floods — since Jan. 1.

“I don't even have enough money in my budget to run my fleet,” he said.

While the land is owned by the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, it appears the town must fix the problem.

“It's like any other private landowner,” Ralph E. Taylor, district supervisor for the Connecticut Valley Wildlife District of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “The people who have the problem are given permission to be on the property to fix the problem.”

The area is used for hiking, bird watching, fishing and hunting, Mr. Taylor said. It was once home to a KOA campground, but no structures remain, and camping is not permitted.

The beavers have been at the site for at least 50 years. Officials know that because the dam and pond show up on topographical maps from 1956.

Mr. Boudreau said there are four huts, which he guesses are home to about 20 beavers.

Estimates are that the dam is about 100 feet long and between 7 and 15 feet deep, which, as beaver dams go, isn't all that large, Mr. Taylor said.

But it's too big for the neighbors.

Once these beavers are gone, officials say, the town will have to monitor the situation because the area, with its meandering stream, is attractive to the species. Warren officials think the state should lend a hand with that.

So does Mrs. Rapisarda, who made a sign she hoped state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, might see during a recent event in town. She posted it on a tree near a gravel-covered area that was once her yard. She has also contacted state Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Warren.

State workers did make repairs to Route 67, and residents hope a more permanent fix will be done once the beavers are gone. But it doesn't help the Rapisardas with their problem.

“The state should come in and clean this up,” Daniel Rapisarda said, gesturing to his front yard. “It's a mess. That's chunks of the road there, and all those rocks that came down. They need to take care of it.”

Many who had damage did not have flood insurance, and the Rapisardas were told that even if they did, the mess caused by the flood was considered “rodent damage” and wouldn't have been covered.

“You just can't win,” Mrs. Rapisarda said.

Contact Kim Ring at kring@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimmring.